


Baby, It's Cold Outside

by saiyuri_dahlia



Series: Our First Year [3]
Category: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Christmas Eve, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiyuri_dahlia/pseuds/saiyuri_dahlia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Link's perfect evening is ruined by some unexpected guests. Happy holidays to one and all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby, It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to all who left kudos on the other stories in this series.
> 
> Title comes from my favorite Christmas song, though the song itself isn't about Christmas. There's a bit of dialogue that's supposed to mirror the lyrics of the song but I'm not sure how well I got that across. I'll be honest I'm not so sure how well-written this story will be. Normally, I would work on it until it felt right but deadline plus work doesn't equate to writing and editing time. My head has basically been mush whenever I do get the time to write.

Series Title: Our First Year

Disclaimer: Still don't own Twilight Princess.

-o-

Yuletide (Christmas): Baby, It's Cold Outside

-o-

Link wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell Shad what his big surprise was and show him the picture and see the look of shock turn to overwhelming joy on his face when he at last told him. If only he had the power to move time like his ancestor, he could speed through the night and make it morning already. Or just later tonight because that was better because it was sooner and Link really wanted to tell him. It wasn't fair that only he was excited—Link wanted to spread his joy around.

But even if Link wanted to tell him tonight, he couldn't. Not yet at least. Ilia and Ashei were over and while there was nothing stopping him from telling Shad in front of them, it would ruin the picture, the perfect, cozy portrait of warmth and cheer he had imagined over and over to himself months ago. Link had decided and planned out this night and that was how things were going to be.

So Ilia and Ashei had to leave. But they weren't. They were having a good visit, yes, but their being here put a bubble in Link's plans. He was fine celebrating the holiday all day with them tomorrow if they wanted to but he just wanted tonight. Alone. With Shad.

No, he was going to wait. He had to, even if his impatience was jumping up and down and telling him over and over to tell him already. Link told himself no. But knowing what he knew and being so eager to tell Shad anyway and watching his scholar sit so calmly on the futon sofa and tinker with his metal cannon only made him squirm with excitement more. He wanted to tell him now…

First, he had to get the cookies out of the bread oven before they burned, though. His kitchen was buzzing, bubbling, and crackling with holiday treats. The sugar and cinnamon baking in their cookies mixed with the bubbling hot apple cider boiling in a pot over his cooking flame. Fresh eggnog chilled in his cellar and two loaves of fruitcake—one traditional, thus finely-chopped and the other chunky and stuffed with extra nuts and dried fruit—cooled on the table.

As Link put in the next batch, he stared at the last sheet cooling on his countertop and wondered if he should do a taste test—just to make sure the insides were done, of course. Sure, the sides and tops were a perfect golden brown but maybe the insides weren't and maybe Link needed to put more wood in the oven.

Flipper in hand, Link inched his way over to the cooling sheet of cookies and hovered over them as he decided which looked the most delicious…er…possibly underdone.

"For your own good, step away this instant, old boy," he heard Shad say in an unamused voice from the sofa, just as he was sliding the flipper beneath his choice cookie. "…Or do you seek to make a repeat of the Gingerbread Incident this morning?"

"Gingerbread Incident, yeah?" Ashei said, raising an eyebrow.

She and Ilia were both sitting on wooden rocking chairs Link had dragged out of hiding. Link had chairs. He just never used them. Until Shad had come along and into his life, he never even had a bed—he had just slept in a hammock. Now, he had a bed that was also their sofa in the daytime and his chairs finally knew what the outside of his cellar looked like.

"Link, you didn't…" Ilia said in disbelief.

Link winced in memory of his awful pain this morning after he had stuffed a whole gingerbread man seconds out of the oven into his mouth. While he had tasted some sweet, spicy gingerbread, mostly he had tasted pain until a cold glass of eggnog had rescued him. He had actually just gotten most of his feeling back in his tongue a few minutes ago.

"…I was just checking," Link said innocently. "Just making sure they were done."

"They are done," Shad said. "Now retreat before you make a poor decision and you cause the whole village to know that you burned your tongue because you wouldn't stop eating cookies straight from the oven."

"Oh, everyone knows about that. It's pretty much expected. It's why Uli made him a herbal potion for pain this morning," Ilia said.

Sighing, Shad shook his head in disbelief. "You are no fool and you are a chap of sound intelligence, my dear. However why is it, as it pertains to food, you choose the worse possible decisions and assault your body? Burning your tongue once is foolish but you learn from the experience. Burning your tongue so frequently you are given a potion for pain beforehand in anticipation of your actions is downright idiotic and I say that with all the love in the world, my dear."

"Yea, well…put it like that, it is stupid," Link said sheepishly, stepping away and setting the flipper on the table. "But warm cookies are the best, you have to admit."

"Oh, I agree wholeheartedly," Shad said, picking up one of many books on the coffee table and skimming through it. "However, we are referring to _warm_ cookies. Not third-degree inducing."

He noticed the book Shad was reading detailed a drawing of a Sky Cannon's inner parts. The scholar studied it intently and sometimes tinkered with the inside of his own little cannon.

Since Hallowtide and seeing his own father's clockwork pieces, Shad had started studying clocks and gears and exploring his father's theory that steam could be a source of energy. His scholar had explained before and again and again to him how it worked but Link didn't really get how hot water could make metal parts move. Link wasn't sure it could be done and it kind of sounded like magic—Shad insisted it wasn't magic at all but science—but if anyone could figure out how to do it, he knew it would be Shad.

"Y'know, your books usually don't have this many pictures," Link said, grinning as he stood behind the sofa. Laxly wrapping his arms around the scholar's shoulders, he leaned forward and read over his shoulder. Or tried to. Most of the parts labeled on the picture were what Link called Shad words—long, hard, not easily said, and that Link had never heard before and didn't know what they meant. Fact, knowing most Shad's books, it was probably in another language altogether.

"Well, I suppose this cannot be considered a typical book. It is a reprint of the technical sketches of Groose the Fourteenth, a direct descendant of a great inventor of weapons and machines during what present historians call the Sky Era, a time when the people of Hylia lived in a land above Hyrule as it is known today. I speculate that the City in the Sky may very be this ancient land. I possess no evidence yet confirming my speculation, however I still believe it is valid on the basis of how many floating landmasses in the sky could there be?"

Link wondered if Shad ever knew how much his face lit up whenever he spoke about his research or even just the things he found interesting. Normally, he was such a calm, quiet young man, preferring to stay out of view and out of public attention, but as soon as he spoke about the Oocca, his eyes would sparkle, his face would warm with a flush, no, a glow of excitement, and his smile radiated charm and cheer. Link bet the scholar had no idea the kind of effect his smile could have.

"This is all so much," Ilia said, as she set her cup of cider on the table. "Sky beings, civil wars, cities in the sky… We never learned stuff like that from our history books. Did you, Ashei?"

"Nah, only book my dad had he used to keep the table level," Ashei said between decapitating a gingerbread man. "All I know about the past is what they teach every kid—the Goddesses created everything and left the Triforce when they left. People have been fighting over it for years so all the wars are the same to me. Don't see the point in studying the stuff I can see with my own eyes, yeah?"

"Well, it is important that we study the past so not to repeat the same mistakes in the future," Shad said.

"Preach that to the nobility, the royal council, the kings and queens," Ashei said. "Whoever has the power to make changes sure hasn't paid attention to whatever the last bastard before them did, yeah?"

"We're lucky to have Queen Zelda," Ilia said, looking down into her cup and swirling the last of her cider around. "She won't let anything happen to us like in those other kingdoms."

There was a brief moment of silence where none of the younger members of the Group said anything and merely looked at one another to see if any of them would speak in front of Ilia about the rumors concerning not Queen Zelda, but members of her council before Ashei said, "Well, if anyone knows how to fix the mistakes of the past, it's Zelda. She's the only one who knows everything that ever happened in every history book in Her Majesty's library. But you're working on that, Shad, aren't you, yeah?"

"Gradually, yes, I am. This book here, in fact, is one of Her Majesty's. A very rare printing, it is. This book actually possesses detailed information regarding Sky Cannons," Shad said. "I say, I do believe from all my research that Groose the Fourteenth is the only known source of information on Sky Cannons outside of the City. His notes describe that he is either the original discoverer or inventor of the Cannon, though I do believe I may have to re-acquaint myself with the Hylian of his era as the word utilized here could closely translate as either. …Still these sketches are absolutely fascinating!"

_I can think of one thing more fascinating…_ Link thought as his eyes traced the line of Shad's jaw and the curve of his lips in profile. "Hey, Shad…look," he said, pulling the tail of his cap over his shoulder. Pinned to the tip of his green cap was a small sprig of mistletoe.

Ashei rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out while Ilia merely smiled and softly giggled.

"You do realize that is supposed to be hanging above us for the tradition to properly take place," Shad said, smiling in amusement.

"Details…" Link said, lightly laughing as he flipped the tail of his cap over his head.

"Those details are what make tradition," Shad said, peering up at Link and matching his smile.

"We'll make new ones," Link said.

"Nothing says good times with friends and loved ones by making them watch you make out under a poisonous parasite, yeah?" Ashei said offhandedly and chugged down the rest of her eggnog.

"New traditions…" Shad considered. "A bit contradictory, is it not, my dear?"

"Are we going to kiss?" Link said, flattening his stare but keeping his smile. "Or are we going to debate?"

"Oh, I suppose we could kiss," Shad said playfully. "Though I must admit I take away great amusement from our brief pre-osculation conversations."

"Whatever that means," Link said, leaning down, "tell me later."

Shad tried to stifle his laughter. But just as their lips were about to meet, the scholar turned away and said, "Pardon, old boy, however, I say, what about the cookies?"

The strong burning smell of what possibly was overcooking cookies wafted between them. Panicking, Link rushed back. The second batch wasn't exactly burnt yet but they weren't perfect.

"You let Link under your waistcoat yet, yeah?" Ashei asked, nearly causing Shad to choke on his tea and Link to drop the entire hot pan of cookies on the floor or his own foot.

"I do not believe that is any of your business, _Miss_ Ashei," Shad said, peering about quickly and red-faced in embarrassment. "Do not think I did not see your show of disgust a moment ago either. Why do you care about our affections if you seem repulsed?"

"Oh, I stuck my tongue out 'cause you two are just so lovely-dovey, it hurts," Ashei said. "And I'm sticking my nose in because I know you. You'll kiss but you won't let it get any farther. You layer clothes on like chastity belts. Make it easy on yourself and just wear a sign that says, 'Do not touch'." She turned and said over her shoulder, "Come on, Link. You've been together five months and he's let you do nothing but kiss, yeah?"

From the kitchen, Link grinned in disbelief and shook his head. Even if it was true, he was staying out of this. "It's no big deal, Ashei. I can wait."

Ashei snorted in disbelief. "The way you work is amazing. You can't wait five minutes to get a gingerbread man into your mouth but you're willing to wait for—"

"I do believe that is a matter to be determined by us," Shad interrupted, a bit annoyed.

"But it's Yuletide's eve and it's cold. You're supposed to snuggle up with the ones you love," Ilia said. "And he won't say it to you but Link wants more."

"I haven't said that!" Link denied, his face red, as he shot her a look that told her to be quiet and that he had told her that in secret.

"I know what you need," Ashei said, smirking. "Break out the brandy, the rum! Surely, there's some whiskey in this village… Rusl got any? What about your father, Ilia?" Once more, she turned and said to Link, "Don't worry. We'll loosen his bowtie by the eve's end. You know what they say, candy is dandy but liquor is quicker, yeah?"

Ilia covered her hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle her laughter while Shad looked absolutely outraged and Link just felt embarrassed and uncomfortable with everything. Maybe it was true that he and Shad had only kissed so far and that he was wanting a bit more but this was something for him and Shad to discuss together, not for their friends to prod over during their Yuletide gathering.

"We're just teasing, Shad," Ilia at long last said.

"I'm not, yeah?" Ashei said matter-of-factly.

Ilia moved over and around their decorated tree and sat down on the sofa with Shad. She leaned forward and looked at his project. "That's a really neat toy you're working on."

"Ah, pardon me, Miss Ilia, however this is not a child's plaything. It is a miniaturized, fully functional model representation of a Sky Cannon. It has taken me years to fabricate one and I do believe it is finally complete."

"Don't they make little wooden ones that pop out corks in Castle Town, yeah?" Ashei said.

"Yes, however those were crafted for the purposes of juvenile entertainment and engagement," Shad said, reorganizing his tiny tools back into their case.

"So going into the toy-making business, yeah?" Ashei said.

"Oh, yes, you should!" Ilia chimed in. "This is really amazing, Shad!"

"I am speaking Modern Hylian, am I not? I am not having a stroke or speaking in tongues so my words are absolutely coherent, correct?" Shad asked the room while Ashei smirked and Ilia nodded readily in response. "Then why is this repeatedly being mistaken as a toy? It is not a toy. It is an educational model."

"How does it work?" Ilia asked.

"Er, well…" Shad seemed taken aback by Ilia's eager interest but nonetheless was happy to explain. "I modified the ignition release mechanism from its original design to suit handheld-use. The device is fashioned nearly-identical to Link's clawshot, however it does not release a chain. The claws merely open and close like so." He demonstrated, twisting the bottom handle of the miniature clawshot back and forth as the top claw mirrored his actions.

"Because the most interesting part of a cannon is its key," Ashei said. "Come on, Shad, fire it already, yeah?"

"Well, I have yet to test it so I possess no indication of its potential firing power or the velocity its projectiles are capable of achieving," Shad said. "However, I can assure you that all internal machinery is in working order and once I have completed a rigorous safety check, I will indeed display it to you at a later gathering."

"Or we can just find out what it can do now," Ashei said, leaning up in her seat and looking around. "There's got to be something you can shoot from it around here, yeah?"

Ilia perked up. "Oh, I know! I've got the perfect cannonball."

"Er…but it is not…" Shad's voice was ignored over Ashei and Ilia's flurry of excitement.

Link knew that he should probably take Shad's side and stop matters but honestly after watching the scholar build the cannon from scratch and scrap metal for months now, he wanted to see the cannon fire just as much as the girls. It wasn't enough for him to just to go by Shad's word that it worked—it was about time he got to see it work.

Opening her gift basket of treats to them, Ilia pulled out a bag of small homemade popcorn balls, perfectly round and just the right size for the cannon's mouth. She tossed them to Ashei as Shad waved his hands, shook his head no, and protested but neither girl listened.

At last, Ashei got the little clawshot from Shad and figured out how to fire the cannon. For its tiny size, the little Sky Cannon was stronger than it looked. Certainly wasn't like the wooden pop cannons in Castle Town. Fact Link was pretty sure that a cork fired from it would leave the cork stuck in the wall. The popcorn ball shot across the room and broke against the floor.

"Oh dear, it appears it requires a few adjustments, some recalibrations to its strength," Shad said as he picked up a tiny screwdriver and resumed his tinkering.

"Works fine to me, yeah?" Ashei said, sliding the cannon away.

"To your standards, yes, however I would rather its punch be a bit less potent."

"It should be weakened," Ilia said, surprising Shad. "The boys might hurt themselves."

As he headed with a broom and pan over to clean up the popcorn crumbles, Link saw Shad scrunch his face up in growing frustration but he quickly breathed a calming sigh. "It is not a toy…" he said, his voice tense.

"Hey, Link," Ashei called as he crouched down and swept up the crumbles into the pan. "Catch, yeah?" She fired another popcorn ball at him.

Link caught it but it crumbled almost immediately in his mouth. A game quickly fell between Ashei firing the little cannon at different angles and Link running around catching popcorn balls. It was flying food, after all, and it was much tidier than having to clean up crumbles everywhere. Ilia laughed and cheered Link on while Shad did not look happy at all.

"Oh, I see what this is for…." Ashei said sarcastically. "It's a hands-free way of shooting food straight into Link's mouth. Exactly what the world needed, yeah?"

"I-Its purpose has never been that!" Shad said, growing flustered, his face reddening. "It is a model! A miniature functional model!"

"It's so cute," Ilia said, shooting another popcorn ball at Link. "The boys will love it! I can see them fighting over it now."

" _It is not a toy!_ " Shad shot up from his seat.

"Fine, Shad. Why didn't you say so, yeah?" Ashei said, completely deadpan.

"I—" the scholar began to say, stopped, and then breathed a long sigh for relief as he sat back down. "If this ribbing is some orchestrated amusement between you two, might I also inform you that I neither appreciate nor take pleasure in your torment?"

Link watched as a small smirk spread across Ashei's face.

Time went by, more cider and eggnog was drunk, cookies kept disappearing, and Link kept hearing the chimes of his cucco clock grow longer and longer. He tried to subtly urge Ashei and Ilia to call it a night but subtle was never Link's strong suit. Both girls caught on, with Ashei raising an eyebrow and asking him he was kicking them out and with Ilia laughing it off and insinuating Link just wanted the night alone with Shad. Which was true but not in the way she meant.

When the girls at last thought it was time to head back, Link tried his best not to look too excited. Of course, he couldn't wait to celebrate the holiday with Ilia and Ashei all day tomorrow but he had been waiting all night to have his perfect planned moment and finally it seemed he could have it.

Or Link had thought he could have…

"I don't know…" Ilia said, peering through the window. "It's looking pretty bad out."

"Really?" Link said, pretending to be surprised. "Nah, just looks bad."

"It looks like Snowpeak out there," Ashei said. "Your winter's always like this, yeah?"

At the same time, Link shook his head yes while Ilia shook her head no. "No, must be a storm."

"It can get like this sometimes…" Link said.

"Actually, the meteorological signs did indicate a severe blizzard approaching," Shad said, pushing his slipped glasses back up. "Or should I say it has arrived?"

"Listen to that wind," Ilia said. "It's howling."

"Probably just whistling through some noisemakers," Link said. "Didn't the kids put some up?"

"Night or not, there's no way of seeing where you're going in that, yeah?"

"It's a straight walk…" Link said, smiling guiltily as Ashei, Ilia, and Shad all stared at him.

"My dear, may I have a word with you? Over here?" Shad said, motioning his finger in a come-with-me gesture but not without last saying to the girls and giving them a short polite bow, "Pardon us."

Head bowed, Link knew that if he could turn into a wolf, he would have his tail between his legs as he followed the scholar over toward the ladder leading down to his cellar on the other side of the room.

"What in the Goddesses' true names are you doing?" Shad whispered, keeping his voice low but stern. "Why do you keep urging the girls to depart in this weather? You and I both know it is much too severe."

"It's not that far…" Link said, hoping he could get away with it. "Not like they're heading back to Castle Town."

Shad's stare and frown were absolutely hard and unyielding. "I am going to pretend I did not hear that," he said. "However, if I had happened to have heard what you had just said, I would inform you of how utterly inconsiderate, discourteous, and downright selfish your words were."

"Well, just this once, can't I be selfish?" Link plead.

"Get the extra bedding out," Shad said.

"I have a good reason, I swear," Link insisted and Shad gave him the word of the doubt and listened. "I have a surprise for you and I wanted it to be just the two of us when I tell you so everything'll be perfect…" Shad's face still said no. "You'll be really, really happy to know…"

The scholar breathed a quick sigh of frustration. "My dear, it can wait until morning—"

"But I've been dying to tell you all day…"

"And it will have to wait," Shad said. "We have company—"

"Please…"

" _Go get the bedding,_ " he said firmly through his clenched teeth.

Immediately, Link turned around, put on smile, and asked cheerfully, "Would you girls like to spend the night? It's awfully bad outside."

Both girls agreed with smiles, Ashei's a bit more on the smug side.

Link headed down and dropped from his ladder into his cellar. As he unlatched the crate holding his extra bedding, he saw Ashei follow him down and hold out her arms as if offering her help.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason she had came down. "Already whipped, yeah?" she said, still keeping her smug smile.

"Shut up…" Link murmured, tossing the thick blankets into her arms.

-o-

Link awoke in the middle of the night to the clacking of the open shutters from his top window. He tiptoed around Ashei and Ilia's sleeping bodies and inched around his and Shad's decorated tree—the scent of smoke from the individually snuffed out candles still wafted in the air. Link had to admit, after staring at it for weeks unlit, that the candles lit with the twirled red and green ribbons, the kids' popcorn strings, and hand-carved wooden ornaments definitely looked better than he had thought it was going to. All together, it was cute, quaint.

Peeking out the window, it was still blowing snow—so much so, Link thought a freezard had piled up along the main road running through the village—and from what he could see, a wall had mounded on his doorstep ledge. If Ashei and Ilia wanted to leave his house, all four of them would have to dig them out. The kids, however, if they could get out of their houses, were going to love all the snow in the morning.

Standing and admiring of what he could see from the lit lanterns lighting the village at night, Link at last closed the shutters and latched them tight. With the wind out of his ears, he finally picked up on creaking from the ladder. He looked and saw Shad stepping up to the platform.

"Ah, I see," he said. "The shutters awoke you before me this time."

"This time?"

"A good wind is enough to break that latch," the scholar explained. "We really should repair it soon."

"That's not why you're up here," Link said. "You knew I was up."

Shad angled his head down to the floor and ran his hand through his hair. "I was…I was just reconsidering…" he said. "Ashei's words rung with truth. I do guard myself with layers, physical or otherwise. I am not affectionate, in that I do not show much physical affection and I set too strict limits on you and myself. I am…a prude."

Link shrugged his shoulders. "Everybody's different. Some people's passion blaze like cooking flames. Others are candle flames slowing melting their wax. Neither is wrong. It's just which you are."

"Yes, and thank you, my dear," Shad said, offering him a small smile, which was barely visible in the dim light. "Which only serves to prove my point that I should be more affectionate with you. So I promise to be more intimate and open with you. Consider this an early present from me to you."

"Does that mean I can give you my surprise?" Link said quickly, grinning. Shad nodded and Link hurriedly pulled out the photograph he had tucked away inside his tunic pocket all day and handed it to him. It was a picture of a mama corgi with her six one-month-old pups.

When he finally had enough light to see what the photograph was, the scholar was speechless. Link wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one since Shad rarely had nothing to say.

"It's the breed you like, right? I know you said there were two kinds."

"Correct, old boy," Shad said as he stared at the photograph as if it was a difficult translation to decipher. "However, I do not understand what this means…"

"It means, in a few weeks, you can pick out the one you want and it's yours. I've worked everything out already."

"Are you… We are…" Shad stumbled through his words before saying nothing at all for a brief time as his eyes darted from the picture and back up to Link and back down again. At last, he composed his thoughts and explained, "Mother never permitted me to own one and I begged her and Father desperately to allow me, however neither I nor Father could convince her otherwise. …I am quite taken aback that you have done this, old boy. I hope you are agreeable to having this pup around. I would not wish to inconvenience you."

"Shad, I'm buying it for you. I think I'm okay with having it around." Link lightly laughed. "This is the dog you want so I'll get it for you. It'll keep you company and get you away from your work when you need to be."

"Well, traditionally, corgis are herding dogs. They have been bred to work," Shad said. "The best environment for it would be agricultural community where it can herd livestock. I say, it would be vastly happier here in Ordon than stuck in my apartment in Castle Town."

"Huh? It's a herder? It can run on those stubby legs?" Link said, raising an eyebrow as he looked back at the mama corgi again. "So you get a friend and I get a partner and Fado gets some competition… Y'know, I'm lucky you like a working dog than one of those yappy lap dogs."

"No doubt my father's influence," Shad said. "He had a sheep dog growing up and always liked an active breed. He always advocated for me to have my corgi. He believed readily that a boy and his dog were the best of friends. I didn't have many friends growing up so a pup would have been a vast improvement."

"Well, you've got lots of friends now," Link said, smiling. "But that doesn't mean it's not time to get your dog either."

"Dear Goddesses, did one of you just crown yourself in mistletoe?" Ashei shouted from the floor. "'Cause all I hear when you two talk to each other is the sound of you two making out, yeah?"

"Aw, be nice, Ashei," Ilia said. "Let the lovebirds coo in their roost."

Immediately, Link started making cucco calls while Shad tried his best to hide his smile.

"You're lucky I like you boys," Ashei said, "so I'll give you a head's up before I plant you headfirst in the snow, yeah?"

"Now, Ashei," Shad said, obviously enjoying the chance to tease her as much as she had teased him earlier, "is that anything to say on Yuletide morning?"

"I call it spreading goodwill to all mankind," she said as she turned over and pulled her blankets around her. "Now shut up and go back to bed. The two of you can make out after we're gone, yeah?"

As Link followed after Shad down the ladders from his upper platforms, he noted he didn't have his picturesque perfect moment like he had planned but he did get to tell him and Shad was overjoyed just like he had hoped. He had spent the evening among friends and loved ones, toasting to good memories and future merriment, and ate popcorn balls shot straight out of a tiny cannon. So maybe it wasn't perfect but it was his Yuletide all the same.


End file.
